As I began perusing this volume, I found myself falling into the assumption that this title would deal exclusively with the "how to" aspect of social media, as have many of the titles I have encountered. One word in the title, "economic," should have tipped me off to the fundamental differences between this work and others contained in my own collections, and those being offered via Amazon and GOBI3, but I was momentarily blinded by the plethora of the didactic social-media-for-business style tomes. This work considers the larger impact of activities that the introduction and evolution of social media has introduced, particularly those of an economic, cultural, social, and communicative nature. However, I am most intrigued by the fact that Hanson has not endeavored to isolate social media, but has paid close attention to how this phenomenon mirrors previous technological advances and how people, business, policy, and society have adjusted in the face of those changes. …